The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)

by John Milton

  446. Quintius Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a semi-legendary Roman hero who was called from the plough to be dictator in 458 BC, when the Aequi had blockaded the consul Minucius. He routed the Aequi, resigned his dictatorship after two weeks, and returned to his farm, refusing his share of the booty.

  Fabricius Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, a Roman hero in the war with Pyrrhus. Although poor, he rejected Pyrrhus’s bribes.

  Curius Manius Curius Dentatus, hero of wars against the Sabines, the Samnites, and Pyrrhus. When the Samnites tried to bribe him, he replied that he would rather rule those who possessed gold than possess it himself. He gave all his booty to the Roman Republic and retired to his simple farm.

  Regulus Marcus Atilius Regulus was captured by the Carthaginians in the First Punic War. He was sent to Rome with terms of peace, after promising to return to Carthage. Regulus went to Rome, persuaded the Senate to reject the terms, then returned to Carthage where he was tortured to death.

  453. toil both ‘labour’ and ‘snare’ (OED 2).

  455. abate blunt (OED v1 8).

  458. yet not for that yet not because.

  459–62. Golden… burden Cp. 2 Henry IV III i: ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’; also Henry V IV i 235ff.

  459. wreath of thorns Jesus will one day wear a literal crown of thorns (Matt. 27. 29, Mark 15. 17, John 19. 1–5).

  466. reigns within himself Cp. Prov. 16. 32: ‘he that ruleth his spirit [is better] than he that taketh a city’. Cp. PL vi 181, xii 82–96, PR iii 71–87.

  474. saving that delivers from sin (OED 4).

  480. sincere genuine (OED 2).

  481–3. to give… assume Cp. Seneca, Thyestes 529: ‘To have a kingdom is chance; to give one, virtue’.

  482–3. to lay down / Far more magnanimous Editors have thought that M. is referring to the abdications of Diocletian or Charles V. But Jesus would not praise kings who merely sought release from a burden (see lines 458–65). He is more likely thinking of Gideon (named in line 439) who refused the kingship of Israel (Judges 8.23). He might also be alluding to Cromwell, who had refused the title of king in December 1653. Cp. Defensio Secunda (YP 4. 672): ‘The name of king you spurned… May you then, O Cromwell, increase in your magnanimity’ (magnitudine… animi). Marvell likens Cromwell to Gideon in The First Anniversary of the Government under O.C. (1655) 249–64.

  THE THIRD BOOK

  3. convinced overcome in argument (OED 2), with overtones of ‘suffer a moral conviction of sinfulness’ (OED 3d).

  14. Urim and Thummim gems in Aaron’s breastplate (Exod. 28. 30, cp. PL iii 597). Their purpose is unknown. I Sam. 28. 6 and Num. 27. 21 imply an oraculous function. Jesus had said ‘oracles are ceased’ (i 456–60).

  16. sought to called upon for.

  18. conduct military leadership.

  19. sustain withstand (OED 8a).

  subsist stand firm (OED 7).

  22. Affecting seeking to obtain (OED ‘affect’ 1).

  23. savage uncultivated, wild.

  27. erected high-souled (OED 2). Cp. Mammon as ‘the least erected Spirit’ (PL i 679).

  31. Thy years are ripe Jesus ‘was about thirty’ at the time of his baptism (Luke 3. 23).

  31–3. son… held Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) invaded Asia when he was twenty-two, and ruled the Persian empire (founded by Cyrus) before he was twenty-six.

  34. young Scipio Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236–183 BC) ousted the Carthaginians from Spain while still in his twenties. He defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC. M. in PL ix 510 calls him ‘the heighth of Rome’

  35–6. young Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106–48 BC) was forty when he defeated the Pontic king Mithridates, and forty-five when he celebrated his triumph. Satan therefore exaggerates his youth. But Pompey had been granted two earlier triumphs: in 81 BC (when he was twenty-five), and in 71 BC.

  39–41. Great Julius… wept Plutarch tells how Caesar, aged thirty, wept when he read of Alexander’s exploits. Asked the reason, he replied that Alexander, at his age, was king of many peoples, whereas he had yet to achieve a brilliant success (Caesar xi 3).

  45. affect seek to obtain (OED 1).

  47. blaze glory (OED sb1 5b), with overtones of ‘proclaim as with a trumpet’ (OED v2 2). Cp. the ‘sudden blaze’ of Lycidas 74 (which is also distinguished from ‘fame in Heaven’). Cp. also Gal. 5. 26: ‘Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another’.

  51. well weighed if they were judged properly.

  56. to be dispraised… praise Cp. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels III iii 15–16: ‘of such / To be disprais’d is the most perfect praise’ – itself an echo of Seneca, De remediis fortuitorum vii 1: Malis displicere laudari est.

  59. raised lauded – a rare sense (OED ‘raise’ 14b) coined by M. in Arcades 8.

  62. divulges proclaims publicly (OED 1b). Cp. Lycidas 78–84.

  67. Hast… Job? Cp. Job 1.8: ‘Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?’ See also i 369–70.

  74. worthies heroes of antiquity (OED 1b). Satan has mentioned some of the traditional ‘nine worthies’, consisting of three pagans (Hector, Alexander, Julius Caesar), three Jews (Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus) and three Christians (Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon).

  81. titled gods Alexander was acclaimed as a god in his lifetime; Julius Caesar was placed among the gods by law after his death. Roman emperors were worshipped as gods.

  82. benefactors translating the Greek title Euergetes, adopted by Hellenistic kings. Cp. Luke 22.25: ‘The kings of the Gentiles… are called benefactors’. M. mocks the title in Defensio (YP 4. 378).

  deliverers translating the Greek title Soter, adopted by hellenistic kings. It implied divinity and in N.T. usage is used of Christ as Saviour.

  84. son of Jove Alexander and Scipio both claimed this lineage. See PL ix 508n, 508–10n.

  Mars Romulus was called the son of Mars.

  86–7. brutish vices… shameful death Alexander was an alcoholic and died shortly after a drinking-party. Julius Caesar was assassinated.

  91–2. wisdom… temperance II Pet. 1. 6.

  94. a land and times obscure Job’s homeland of Uz was of uncertain location. Job himself was thought to have lived before Moses (Lewalski 11–12).

  96–8. Socrates… unjust Socrates was condemned for corrupting the youth of Athens and for introducing new gods. His accusers asked for the death penalty, but made it easy for him to escape. He chose to die rather than break the city’s laws (Plato, Crito). Justin Martyr saw Socrates’ death as foreshadowing Christ’s (First Apology v). See Lewalski (240).

  101. African Scipio Africanus.

  106–7. I seek not mine, but his / Who sent me Cp. John 5. 30: ‘I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me’; also John 9. 50: ‘I seek not mine own glory’.

  111. for his glory all things made Cp. Rev. 4. 11: ‘Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created’.

  118. Promiscuous without discrimination.

  119. barbarous non-hellenic.

  120. foes pronounced Satan still draws back from admitting that he is the foe, even though that is what his name means. Cp. i 387.

  122. his word Jesus seems unaware that he himself is the Word (John 1. 1).

  127. benediction *expression of thanks (OED id).

  138. recreant apostate.

  140. sacrilegious M. in CD ii 4 defines ‘sacrilege’ as ‘the appropriation of things… dedicated to God’ (trans. Carey, YP 6. 682).

  146. had not to answer had nothing to answer.

  154. By mother’s side thy father Matt. 1. 1–16 and Luke 3. 23–38 trace Jesus’s descent from David through Joseph, but patristic tradition took Luke 1. 27 to mean that both Joseph and Mary were ‘of the house of David’. Jewish law did not
recognize descent through the mother, so Satan’s exclusion of Joseph is insulting. Some theologians had argued that Jesus was Joseph’s heir by adoption. See also iv 500–501n.

  158–60. Roman… sway Pompey took Jerusalem in 68 BC, and Mark Antony stormed it in 37 BC. Judaea was added to the Roman province of Syria in AD 6. Pontius Pilate was procurator from AD 25–36. Josephus testifies to his tyrannical acts (Antiquities xviii 3). Cp. Luke 13. 1.

  160–61. violated / The Temple Pompey entered the Holy of Holies in 63 BC and Crassus stole gold from the Holy of Holies. Pilate broke the Jewish Law by bringing images of Roman emperors into Jerusalem (Antiquities xiv 4–7, xviii 3).

  163. Antiochus Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Seleucid Emperor of Syria. After capturing Jerusalem (169 BC), he attempted to abolish the Jewish religion and hellenize the Jews. He forced them to build shrines for idols and sacrifice swine at the altar (I Macc. 1. 20–63).

  165. Maccabeus Judas Maccabeus, leader of a Jewish revolt against Antiochus (I Macc. 2–9). His family were originally priests in Modin (I Macc. 2. 1), but later assumed royal power as the Hasmonean dynasty. See PL xii 354–8.

  166. Retired into the desert Judas waged guerilla warfare in and from the desert (I Macc. 2. 29–31, 5. 24–8).

  171. kingdom the rank of a king (OED 1).

  173. Occasion’s forelock a proverbial phrase for an opportunity that must be seized. Occasion (opportunity) was depicted as a woman, bald save for one lock of hair hanging over her forehead, which must be seized from the front. Cp. Spenser, FQ II iv 4–12 and Shakespeare, Othello III i 50.

  174. occasion both ‘opportunity’ (OED 1) and ‘adequate reason’ (OED 2a).

  175. Zeal of thy father’s house When Jesus expelled the money-changers from the Temple, his disciples ‘remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up’ (John 2. 17; cp. Ps. 69. 9).

  178. Prophets… endless reign See ii 441–2n.

  183. time… for all things Cp. Eccles. 3. 1: ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven’.

  187. all times and seasons Cp. Acts 1. 7: ‘they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times of the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power’. Cp. also John 2. 4: ‘mine hour is not yet come’.

  188–91. What if… violence O.T. prophets (e.g. Isa. 53. 6) had foretold Jesus’s death. Cp. i 263–7.

  194–5. who best / Can suffer, best can do echoing the words spoken by Mutius Scaevola as he thrust his hand into a flaming brazier (see PL ii 199n). Cp. also Matt. 20. 26–7: ‘whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant’.

  201. my rising is thy fall Simeon had prophesied that Jesus ‘is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel’ (Luke 2. 34). MacKellar, Var. 4 (1975) 157, sees an image of ‘the rising and setting of opposite stars’ that continues the figure of Christ as morning star ‘then in his rise’ (i 294). See Rev. 22. 16 and Isa. 14. 12 for Christ and Satan as morning stars.

  206. no hope… no fear Cp. Satan’s words on Mount Niphates in PL iv 108: ‘So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear’. Satan is about to carry Jesus to Niphates.

  211. final good Philosophers and theologians applied the term summum bonum (‘highest good’) to many goals, including riches, bodily delights, virtue, and contemplation. Christians saw man’s summum bonum as the loving vision of God’s perfection.

  213. whatever both ‘whatever the crime was’ and ‘no matter what punishment may follow’.

  215–21. though… cool See PL iv 79n for the question of whether Satan might have repented. Critics disagree as to whether Satan’s present swerving to repentance is sincere.

  218. aggravate both ‘make worse’ and ‘bring as a charge or “gravamen” against’ (OED 3).

  219. stand between… ire Cp. Fair Infant 69: ‘To stand ’twixt us and our deservèd smart’.

  221–2. shelter… summer’s cloud Cp. Isa. 25. 4–5: ‘For thou hast been… a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat… even the heat with the shadow of a cloud’.

  234. once a year Cp. Luke 2. 41: ‘Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover’.

  242. he mho… found a kingdom Saul, first king of Israel, anointed by Samuel while looking for his father’s asses (I Sam. 9. 3–10.).

  243. *unadvent’rous OED cites ‘adventurous’ from 1350.

  245. rudiments initial stages. See i 157–8 and note.

  247. inform train in some particular course of action (OED 4b).

  249. mysteries skills (OED sb2 2c), secrets of state (OED sb1 5c).

  252. a mountain high Cp. the ‘high mountain’ in Matt. 4. 8 and Luke 4. 5. M. probably identifies this mountain with Mount Niphates, which was sometimes thought to be the source of both the Tigris and the Euphrates (see 255–6). Satan had alighted on Niphates in PL iii 742, and had there pledged himself to evil (PL iv 32–113).

  255. two rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The former is winding, the latter straight. They meet and flow into the Persian Gulf.

  257. champaign flat, open country (Mesopotamia).

  259. glebe cultivated land.

  264. *fountainless unwatered.

  270. ancient bounds Satan points out the boundaries of the Assyrian empire at the zenith of its power (722–636 BC).

  271. Araxes now Aras, a river flowing through Armenia to the Caspian Sea.

  274. drouth desert (OED 3).

  275. Nineveh capital of Assyria, on the banks of the Tigris.

  276. Several days’ journey Cp. Jonah 3. 3: ‘Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey’.

  Ninus the eponymous founder of Nineveh, and mythical king of Assyria.

  277. that first golden monarchy perhaps alluding to the golden head of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of four empires (Dan. 2. 31–45). Daniel had interpreted the head as a symbol of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon (2. Dan. 38).

  278. Salmanassar Shalmaneser, King of Assyria from 727 to 722 BC, carried the ten northern tribes of Israel into captivity in 726 BC (II Kings 17. 6). Cp. iii 374–80, 414–40.

  280. Babylon on the Euphrates. It was uninhabited in Jesus’s time. The supposed founders were Belus and Semiramis, Ninus’s father and wife. Thus Babylon is As ancient as Nineveh.

  wonder of all tongues a pun. Babylon did contain wonders (the temple of Bel, the hanging gardens), but M. in PL xii 342–3 had identified it with Babel.

  281. him Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (which he rebuilt) from 604 to 561 BC. He twice captured Jerusalem (in 597 and 587 BC) and led the Jews into their Babylonish captivity (II Kings 24. 10–17, II Kings 25. 1–22, Dan. 1. 1–2, Jer. 39. 1–9).

  284. Cyrus founder of the Persian empire. He conquered Babylon in 538 BC and freed the Jews (Dan. 5, Ezra 1. 1–8).

  Persepolis summer capital of the Persian kings. Alexander had burned it in 331 BC.

  285. Bactra capital of the Persian province of Bactria (now Balkh, in Afghanistan).

  286. Ecbatana ancient capital of the Medes, and a summer residence of the Persian kings. Herodotus i 98 and Judith 1. 2–4 testify to its structure vast. Cp. PL xi 393.

  287. Hecatompylos Greek ‘hundred gates’, the Parthian capital.

  288. Susa the winter residence of the Persian kings. Cp. PL x 308.

  Choaspes a river of Susiana.

  289. The drink of none but kings Herodotus i 188 says that the Persian king would carry water from the Choaspes with him when he went on campaign, and would drink no other water. Athenaeus says that only the king and his son could drink of the Choaspes (Deipnosophists xii 515).

  290. Emathian Macedonian (the Seleucid successors of Alexander).

  291. great Seleucia a city on the Tigris, built by Alexander’s general Seleucus Nicator (c. 358–281 BC). Cp. PL iv 212.

  Nisibis a Macedonian city in north-western Mesopotamia (now Nusaaybin, on the border of Turkey and Syri
a).

  292. Artaxata the ancient capital of Armenia.

  Teredon a city near the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates.

  Ctesiphon the winter capital of the Parthian kings, on the Tigris, near Seleucia.

  294–7. the Parthian… won Parthia was originally a province of the Persian and Seleucid empires, but Arsaces threw off the Seleucid yoke in 247 BC. The Parthian Arsacid dynasty fought many wars against Rome, and halted Roman expansion to the east. Parthia was eventually supplanted by the Sassanid Persians (c. AD 226). The Parthian king in Jesus’s time, Artabanus III, was hostile to Rome.

  297. Antioch the Seleucid capital, on the Orontes in Syria.

  298–336. just in time… war Satan is describing a typical engagement between Parthians and Scythians, rather than a specific historical campaign.

  301. Scythian The Scythians were barbarian tribes who lived in what is now Russia and Siberia.

  302. Sogdiana the most north-eastern province of Alexander’s empire (modern Turkestan and Bokhara). It was not a Parthian province in Jesus’s time.

  303–36. see… war Editors cite Ammianus Marcellinus (xxv 11–19) as M.’s prime source, but Ammianus is describing Sassanid Persians, not Parthians. Most of M.’s details are found in Plutarch, Crassus 24, but the steel bows (305) are his own invention. Parthians used the Asian composite bow of sinew and horn.

  306. in flight, or in pursuit Parthian mounted archers were renowned for their ability to shoot to the rear while feigning flight (the ‘Parthian shot’). See lines 322–5.

  309. rhombs lozenge-shaped formations.

  wedges half-rhombs.

  311. *outpoured.

  316. Arachosia the easternmost Parthian province, west of the Indus river. Candaor a province and city in what is now Afghanistan.

  317. Margiana a region east of the Caspian.

  Hyrcanian Hyrcania was a province south-east of the Caspian.

  318. dark Iberian dales Iberia (modern Georgia) was heavily wooded.

  319. Atropatia the northern portion of Media.

  320. Adiabéne one of the plains around Nineveh.

  321. Susiana the southernmost Parthian province, on the Persian Gulf. Balsara’s hav’n the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris (the Chatt-el-Arab). Balsara (Basra) was not founded until AD 636.